Officials of ?MetLife say the company has recently earned the designation of "Certified Center of Excellence," marking the sixth consecutive year its Customer Sales & Service Group has won the award, presented by Purdue University's (News - Alert) Center for Customer-Driven Quality in conjunction with BenchmarkPortal, a national benchmarking firm.

BenchmarkPortal (News - Alert) evaluates contact centers across a variety of industries, among other considerations, judging them on their ability to exceed certain statistical standards in comparison to their industry peers. MetLife officials claim that "on average, each year only ten percent of contact centers that apply for certification earn the designation." They also note that MetLife's Customer Sales & Service Group is "one of only two winning centers to have earned the certification six years in a row."

Karen Hemenway, MetLife vice president, Customer Sales & Service Group and a woman who has never been asked if she's related to a prominent 20th century American author, said "as a business that relies on the trust and goodwill of our customers, MetLife recognizes that caller satisfaction is an important factor in retaining customers, building strong relationships, and driving business results."

Bruce Belfiore, chief executive officer, BenchmarkPortal (News - Alert), congratulated MetLife on getting certified as a Center of Excellence for the sixth year in a row: "Since the Center of Excellence designation requires superior performance on key performance metrics, this achievement represents a consistent commitment to service quality, continuous improvement and operational efficiency."

In late 2010 TMC's (News - Alert) Juliana Kenny wrote benchmarking in call centers is a vital process that enables call center managers to gather and analyze data effectively. In a video produced by BenchmarkPortal, the company states, “Given the time commitment, most managers do it only once a year.” Yet, this process should be completed much more frequently than that.

A tool from BenchmarkPortal revolutionizes the benchmarking process for call centers. As a low-cost option for call center managers, the tool automates the benchmarking process. “Your data is uploaded from your ACD once a month, and you see reports that show you where you are, and where you are going compared with your industry," according to the video.